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Heat: Adventures in the World's Fiery Places
by
Bill Streever (Goodreads Author)
An adventurous ride through the most blisteringly hot regions of science, history, and culture.
Melting glaciers, warming oceans, droughts-it's clear that today's world is getting hotter. But while we know the agony of a sunburn or the comfort of our winter heaters, do we really understand heat?
A bestselling scientist and nature writer who goes to any extreme to uncover th...more
Melting glaciers, warming oceans, droughts-it's clear that today's world is getting hotter. But while we know the agony of a sunburn or the comfort of our winter heaters, do we really understand heat?
A bestselling scientist and nature writer who goes to any extreme to uncover th...more
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published
January 15th 2013
by Little, Brown and Company
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I read this because I liked Cold, which was a better book than this one.
The first parts about the desert and fires were good. The history of oil drilling in the northeastern US was somewhat interesting. But, too much time was spent on it. It felt like it became the focal point of the book, when I'd be more interested in reading more about the volcanoes and nuclear research. His repeated references to fire walking were a weak attempt to glue the parts of the book together. When he finally does fi...more
The first parts about the desert and fires were good. The history of oil drilling in the northeastern US was somewhat interesting. But, too much time was spent on it. It felt like it became the focal point of the book, when I'd be more interested in reading more about the volcanoes and nuclear research. His repeated references to fire walking were a weak attempt to glue the parts of the book together. When he finally does fi...more
To be fair I did not finish this book. The pervasive references to evolution and the rants about carbon emissions got very wearisome. I gave up in disgust. Waste of time...
I did finally finish this book. The references to evolution and carbon emissions continued throughout.
There were some interesting parts of the book; his time spent on the volcanoes in Hawaii, the stories about firefighters. But they were offset by the other stuff.
I did finally finish this book. The references to evolution and carbon emissions continued throughout.
There were some interesting parts of the book; his time spent on the volcanoes in Hawaii, the stories about firefighters. But they were offset by the other stuff.
BRACE YOURSELVES: RAGE IS COMING.
I suspected there was going to be trouble when the prologue opened with Streever holding his hand over an open flame until the pain registered as an 'eleven.' I was like, "Oh, heck. Another armchair scientist confusing scientific inquiry with impulse-control problems and stupidity."
Ugh.
This book should be called Jackass: TEAM SCIENCE EDITION.
As I was reading, rather than taking an interest in the discussion of spontaneous combustion, forest fires, coal, fevers, a...more
I suspected there was going to be trouble when the prologue opened with Streever holding his hand over an open flame until the pain registered as an 'eleven.' I was like, "Oh, heck. Another armchair scientist confusing scientific inquiry with impulse-control problems and stupidity."
Ugh.
This book should be called Jackass: TEAM SCIENCE EDITION.
As I was reading, rather than taking an interest in the discussion of spontaneous combustion, forest fires, coal, fevers, a...more
6 likes · like · see review
I received this book free from Goodreads' first reads.
This book started out by describing what prolonged exposure to heat does to the human body. The second chapter talks about wild fires. I feel a warning is needed, these two chapters are quite graphic. The squeamish beware. I'm not squeamish and found all this fascinating. I'd also like to add that whatever we pay firefighters is not enough, it couldn't possibly be enough.
Streever goes on to talk about cooking, fuel, volcanoes, nuclear weapons...more
This book started out by describing what prolonged exposure to heat does to the human body. The second chapter talks about wild fires. I feel a warning is needed, these two chapters are quite graphic. The squeamish beware. I'm not squeamish and found all this fascinating. I'd also like to add that whatever we pay firefighters is not enough, it couldn't possibly be enough.
Streever goes on to talk about cooking, fuel, volcanoes, nuclear weapons...more
1 like · like · see review
Although the book was interesting, it was not at all what I expected. The fact that the author is a biologist is very evident throughout. When I read the subtitle "adventures in the world's fiery places" I expected this to be more of a travel-based narration. Although there was a lot of travel, there were also full chapters on the use of coal and gas mainly centred around the US. I finish this book having learned a lot, but not having learned what I expected to.
This book really drags toward the end. Worth reading for the chapter about the man who got lost in the desert. While the affects of heat on the body are not pretty it is probably something we all should know.
A cocktail of science, history, travel writing and literature. A very pleasant, easy-to-read work of non-fiction.
Very interesting journey into Heat and what is hot. Easy read. I want to read his other book "Cold".
A mostly enjoyable, interesting read. I really loved Streever's book COLD because I love Ant/Arctic history and facts, so I tried HEAT. My favorite parts of the book were learning about people dehydrating or getting sunstroke or dying in fires, and the bits about coal mining, oil-drilling, and atomic bombs were just frosting. Less exciting were Streever's meditations on all of the above and his build-up to firewalking, which I skipped.
Bill Streever is a weird guy. But I like the way he writes about science and history. Kind of like if Bill Bryson were crazy.
Feb 22, 2013
Frank Onuh
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I won this through the goodreads first reads program. I thought it was pretty good. I liked the chapter on volcanoes the best. Well written, good imagery, and interesting. It did take me a while to read it, I kept putting it down in favor of other books.
He does pull some stupid stunts, see the other reviews on this book for details.
He does pull some stupid stunts, see the other reviews on this book for details.
Fascinating information and insights on heat from candles to the conditions of the Big Bang. A good complement to the author's "Cold." Read it in winter.
I received this book from goodreads first reads on Nov 26, 2012.
Great read.
Great read.
Thanks to goodreads and the author for this First Reads giveaway!
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Jan 09, 2013 05:26pm